stone by two children of the sun-father, using as their weapons the rainbow and the lightning; hence these fetiches are supposed to possess magic power over the game. Chief among these are images of the mountain lion, bear, badger, wolf, eagle, and mole, presiding over north, west, south, east, the Above and the Below. Fetiches of these prey-gods, generally adorned with beads and a flint arrow head, are kept with great care and brought out on a special day for worship; one is lent to a party of hunters, and is carefully carried in a crescent-shaped bag, taken out and addressed in prayer, dipped in the blood of the slaughtered animal, and restored to the keeper at the end of the expedition. In addition to these prey-god fetiches, the priesthood of the Bow possesses a god in human form, called the "Knife-feathered monster," which is depicted on their shield, and is strongly suggestive of Egyptian or Assyrian art. 66 As Mr. Cushing has returned to New Mexico, we may hope for further notices of this interesting people, whose works of art, with those of neighbouring tribes in New Mexico and Arizona, are illustrated in the last article of the volume before us, which is a Catalogue of a Collection obtained from the Indians in 1879, by James Stephenson.' Of these, some are ancient, obtained from ruined pueblos, and some are modern. Most of the pottery, in colour, form, and ornamentation, bears a strong resemblance to early Greek, Etruscan, and Peruvian ware, as also to that from Hissarlik; but there are some forms which seem peculiar to the region, especially the clay baskets and ladles. The stone mauls and hammers appear to be precisely like the European, and there is a weapon fashioned like a boomerang, used in hunting rabbits. Mrs. Erminie Smith's article on the "Myths of the Iroquois consists of a series of tales whereby these Indians explain various natural phenomena, in which, as in the folk-lore of most nations, giants and pigmies play an important part, but the "Great Heads' of these tales seem to be an original conception; they are apparently both good and evil, "with ever-watchful eyes, and long hair, which serves them as wings to bear them on missions of mercy or of destruction." Mr. Henshaw's 66 paper on Animal Carvings from Mounds of the Mississippi Valley," is written to prove that Squier and Davis, Wilson and other writers have been mistaken in their estimate of the art of the mound builders, and in supposing that such animals as the manatee, toucan, &c., &c., are represented among their carvings; nevertheless, I believe that the majority of readers will be inclined to adhere to the opinion of the older writers, and will certainly see more likeness to the toucan, in the carving thus designated by Squier and Davis, than to the ibis as suggested by Mr. Henshaw, whilst they will hardly be likely to agree with him in regarding all the human heads as caricatures of the American Indian physiognomy. A paper on "Navajo Silversmiths," by Dr. Washington Matthews, U.S.A., is an interesting account of the method of work and tools employed by these clever artificers. But the article which will attract the greatest amount of attention, is that upon "Art in Shell of the Ancient Americans," by William H. Holmes. In this beautifully illustrated article we find shells of various kinds applied to so many uses, that we are tempted to add an age of shell to those of stone and metal on the American continent. The specimens figured and described come from mounds in all parts, and represent food and drinking vessels, spoons, pins, fishhooks, agricultural implements, war-clubs, celts, &c., as well as beads and other ornaments, from plain pendants to elaborately carved gorgets. The carvings on these gorgets are varied from a simple cross, to wonderfully designed and artistically executed figures, representing geometrical patterns, birds, the rattlesnake, spiders, and the human form, often curiously conventionalized: and in come cases spirited designs of combats, &c., the singular part in which is, that they are almost identical with carvings from Mexico and Nicaragua, although found in Tennessee; the mounds from this latter state seem to have furnished the majority of these works in shell, although some are from Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, and New York. Among the most curious of the finds are a number of faces rudely pourtrayed, and supposed to be masks; these also are chiefly from Tennessee, but they have been found in Kentucky, Virginia, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas. The shell chiefly used for these ornaments is Busycon perversum, and its presence so far inland is a proof of long continued intercourse between the mound builders and the people dwelling on the coast whence these shells were obtained. Another very interesting part of this article describes the manufacture and use of wampum, giving the mode of making the beads from the inner whorl of the shell, and the history of many famous wampum belts. It may be safely affirmed that the volume before us, with its predecessor, will prove a mine of wealth to students of American archæology, and it is greatly to be regretted that our own scientific societies, being unaided by government, are unable to rival the Smithsonian Institution in their publications, especially in the matter of illustrations, which are so valuable to students. A. W. BUCKLAND. INDEX. A. Address by the President, 378. African Symbolic Messages, 169-see Andaman Islands and their inhabi- Andaman Islands, on the osteology of Annual General Meeting, 371. cial deformation of the head in Health Exhibition, 205; object of 217; specimen form, 219; dis- Atkinson, G. M., 13, 44, 55, 221. Australians, marriage customs and Coffin, W. H. C., 14, 186, 221, 222. Commerce, on traces of, in pre-historic Craniometric agreement, the Frank- Cuoq, Rev. J. A., 242, 244. Curl, Dr. S. M., on Phoenician inter- D. Darwin, W. E., 327. Davies, William, 199. Deme and the Horde, 142; the Aus- mother-right, 144; aliens, 145; sum. E. Egyptian Sudán, ethnology of, 91- Ellis, Rev. W., 234. Er-Lanic, on the cromlech of, 47. ахе from New Guinea, 115; antiquities F. Fison, Rev. L., the Nanga, or sacred 182, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 298, and A. W. Howitt on the Deme Hartington, Marquis of, 99. - Hindu prophetess, 187; personal ap- 16, 182, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, and Lorimer Fison, on the Deme I. Thering, Prof. von, 73, 74, 78. stone implements used by embalmers, Initiation ceremonies of the Kurnai J. Jeraeil, or initiation ceremonies of the Johnson, Chief George, 235. |